certainly be sent against them (i.e. the Jews) until the day of
resurrection those that would afflict them with grievous distress;—verily thy
Lord is swift in vengeance, and he is surely forgiving and merciful.
And We dispersed them in the earth amongst the nations;—there are of them that
are virtuous, and there are of them that are not so. And We proved them with
blessings, and with adversities, if perchance they might return.
And there
succeeded after them a generation that inherited the book, who receive the
temporal advantage of this world, and say,—It will be forgiven unto us. And if
there come unto them an advantage the like thereof, they accept it. What! hath
there not been taken from them the covenant of the book, that they should not
say of God other than the truth, and they diligently study that which is
therein.
This passage was probably revealed at Medîna, when a
difference was beginning to arise between Mahomet and the Jews.
It contains an imputation against the Jews for misrepresenting the truth. But
it is an imputation which does not in the least affect the scrupulous care with
which they preserved their sacred books:—just as the Christians always have
imputed, and do to this day impute, misrepresentation of the truth to the same
people, though they implicitly receive their Scriptures as genuine and
incorrupt.
On the other hand, the passage contains a fresh testimony to "the
Book," as "inherited"; that is, handed down from
generation to generation amongst the Jews.
The Jews are further accused of breaking the covenant that they would not
speak of God other than the truth, (i.e. that they would not
misrepresent the truth,) although they are in the habit of reading that which
is
